Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - [Livingontheland] Soil phosphorus (was Re: No-till manure application)

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Harvey Ussery <huboxwood@earthlink.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Soil phosphorus (was Re: No-till manure application)
  • Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2006 12:53:09 +0000

My brother's garden in the next county can go
longer without irrigation than mine. It's an old
garden spot that was manured for many, many
years because the former owners kept horses. ~Steve Diver

My soil organic matter is also quite high, and I notice the difference when the season is dry. However, I've been reading that too much use of manures for OM can over time result in excess soil phosphorus. Indeed, the last time I had my soil tested (by a student of William Albrecht), I was advised that my soil P was way too high, and that I should cease application of manure and manure-based compost. [My soil is clay, which is naturally high in P anyway.] Of course, I had been using chicken manure composts, and they would have been especially high in P. But other manures as well, I'm reading, can lead to building soil P to problematic levels.

What do others think? I've always been of the school "the more OM the better, from the most sources available the better." But is it wise to think "too much of a good thing" and start limiting manure applications after a certain point?

~Harvey

--
Harvey in northern Va
www.themodernhomestead.us

"How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." ~Wendell Berry



  • [Livingontheland] Soil phosphorus (was Re: No-till manure application), Harvey Ussery, 09/05/2006

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page